At an event yesterday, maybe four different men asked me: Why didn’t you write a book about solutions? (Women almost never ask this.) It’s a businessman’s need, this thirst for “actionable” solutions. And I’ve come to believe this need masks another, deeper one: for absolution.
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It is easier to sit in absolution and a “fix” than the discomfort of the disease and its toll—whether emotional or physical. Imagine having to sit in being part of causing the pain/disease. I think that’s where the urge to move past comes from.
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You are very smart. This is so helpful.
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Thank you. And I’m just putting into clinical/micro terms what you are already pointing out/seeing in systemic/macro terms. It’s one of my favorite hobbies.

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I’ve been suggesting your book to young activists precisely bc it doesn’t have specific actions. I think it’s important for those of us who want to create change to ask the questions your book raises of solutions: 1) Does this shift power? 2) Is there a more root cause solution?
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Have you read Peter Block's book "The Answer to How is Yes"? In delicious prose, he describes exactly this tendency, why it's problematic and what is a better alternative to jumping to solutions.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246937.The_Answer_to_How_Is_Yes …
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We accept this (the former) in a lot of public arenas, unfortunately.
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I think this is slightly facetious...Your diagnosis contains an indictment of a certain class, and it’s normal to consider action should be taken against them. I wonder if you’d expect them to put down the book (or go into a Q&A), roll over, and deliver a mea culpa?
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Realistically, solutions also entail exclusion. I wonder whether you really expect that class—even the Khoslas amongst them—to participate in self-correction. It may not be in the interest of a book tour to draw lines, but this gendered line seems like a disingenuous sidestep
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We are generally uncomfortable with the unknown. This liminal space creates anxiety in us which we seek to assuage with action. It requires practice to sit with uncertainty, pain, and seeming powerlessness. People of color and women have more practice at this than white men.
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Always the quick fix with the most profit.
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In a business context we often say "move beyond problem identification." In my experience it is often the case that attempting to think through solutions highlights initially unseen aspects of the problem. And sometimes that problem ends up looking less like a problem at all.
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I don't have a problem w critique/diagnosis—as you point out, it's a necessary step in addressing a problem. You shouldn't be criticized for offering few solutions. But when the patient demands treatment, it's because they are in some kind of pain and desperate for a cure.
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PS most doctors do this now. It's not a matter of trust but the realities of the system we're in.
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Having born witness to your spouse's insightful TED presentation, I'd argue that you, personally, have more cause than most to adopt a feminist/diagnostic perspective. Yet & still, modern women typically need to be strong-armed into timely response to ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE
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I’m going to assume you do not have any Doctors your immediate family.
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